1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems, apparatus, and methods, whereby carbon-based wastes may be converted into (i) high-grade synthetic crude oil, (ii) synthetic gas (SynGas), and (iii) nitrogen-rich ash fertilizer, and to compositions made thereby. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the invention relates to the conversion of animal wastes, such as chicken litter, into the above-noted products in a process that is eco-friendly, can use feedstock with up to 75% water content, produces essentially no harmful fugitive emissions, operates at low pressure and at skin temperatures below 140 degrees Fahrenheit (no risk of explosion), requires no heating, cooling, or drying of feedstock, and the reaction is self-sustaining after initial ignition.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known, chicken is a very popular meal in American homes and restaurants. Increasing sales of chicken products have led to the wide-spread industrial production and processing of chicken stock. In 2013, it was estimated that there were more than one billion chickens in each of Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama; with Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, and Kentucky not far behind. Of course, such vast numbers of chickens mean vast amounts of solid waste, termed “chicken litter”, from the bedding material and from the chickens themselves. It is estimated that one billion chickens will produce 5500 tons of chicken litter per day. This is a prodigious amount of solid/liquid waste which is currently causing severe environmental problems, such as water-table pollution, methane-gas production, pollution of streams and rivers, etc. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to ameliorate the disadvantageous environmental effects of chicken litter. See, for example, EPA Notice EPA 305-F-03-002, April 2003, “Poultry Production and Environmental Stewardship.”
Some attempts have been made to covert waste, such as chicken litter, into usable energy. As one example, the inventor of the subject application is an inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 7,964,026, issued Jun. 21, 2011, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,216,345, issued Jul. 10, 2012 (the entire contends of each being incorporated herein by reference), which disclose gasification method and apparatus for converting chicken litter into a combustible gas. This was a notable advance in the art, but produced only gas, while filtering out oil, tar, and other “waste” materials. Thus, much potential energy was lost. Furthermore, it is known that combustible gas presents collection and distribution problems, especially in a production model where many such facilities are distributed over wide areas of agricultural land. Considering their relative potential energy, oil is easier to transport than gas.
Now, consider all forms of waste. Waste in all forms is an inevitable product and dilemma of modern urban and rural life. Animal waste poses a serious threat to the World's watersheds and serious health risks. Animal waste—chickens, hogs or cattle—is one of the world's greatest threats to natural habitats, water tables, and the health of the environment. It has been estimated that there are approximately 17 billion chickens, 1 billion cattle, and 1 billion pigs worldwide that produce 13 billion tons of waste each day that must be disposed of. The growth of industrial farming has concentrated thousands of animals on increasingly fewer farms resulting in enormous amounts of animal waste on relatively small plots of land increasing the risk of run-off and watershed damage. Raw animal waste is commonly used as a fertilizer with a drying or curing process that releases methane gas into the atmosphere. Factory farms crowd animals into relatively small areas where waste accumulates in massive waste piles or fetid lagoons that can threaten the health of livestock as well as leak or overflow, sending dangerous bacteria, phosphorous, and nitrate pollution into water supplies. Animal waste emits methane that has 25 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide
However, the known art described in the above-noted patents still fails to achieve many desired traits. With respect to farm-produced syngas, typical farms could not consume the energy that could be produced thereby, and could not benefit economically from the sale of electricity, primarily from the capital cost of the infrastructure. Essentially, from environmental and economic standpoints, the solutions did not provide for a net gain to the poultry farm.